The invention disclosed herein relates to an electronic game having an interactive play section of relatively large size which in use must be supported extending over a relatively large area and which can be folded or rolled up into a compact configuration for storage and/or transporting.
Electronic games with a large interactive play section have heretofore been supported by rigid housings which in turn are supported by a stand or on an existing piece of furniture such as table, or on the floor. For example, electronic arcade games such as pinball machines and a game having similarities to the electronic toy game disclosed herein are supported by a rigid housing and a stand. These electronic games are not intended to simply be broken down or reconfigured by a consumer for storage, and obviously can not be folded or rolled up into a compact configuration for storage and/or transporting.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,247,109 discloses an electronic pinball machine including flexible sheets on which electrical circuitry is supported and a rigid housing in which the flexible sheets are permanently mounted and supported. This patent states that the pinball machine is adapted primarily for hand held operation, but that the invention therein has utility for game constructions which are floor supported. While the hand held construction would be relatively small and therefore would not seem to need to be converted into a compact configuration for storage or shipping, the floor stand construction may be relatively large so that easy conversion to a compact configuration would be desirable. However, like the hand held construction, the floor stand construction would include a rigid housing which would preclude folding or rolling the game into a compact configuration.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,369 discloses an input and display device for counting events (e.g., laps) in athletic activities which includes end sections incorporating electronic circuitry, touch pad switches, batteries or a display interconnected by a flexible section through which wires are run connecting components in the two end sections. The flexible section is not interactive and its size is determined by the spacing desired between the end sections for functional reasons described in the patent. Although the device may be rolled up, only the end sections are interactive which themselves call not be folded or rolled up.
Flexible circuits have been used in at least the following applications: touch screens and digitizers (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,931,782 and 5,001,308, and SummaFlex digitizer available from CalComp Technology, Inc.); keyboards for calculators and watches (U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,911,234, 4,364,619 and 4,028,509); a switch activated by the weight of a person standing on a mat incorporating the switch (U.S. Pat. No. 4,105,899); and flexible printed circuit connectors (U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,659).
There is a need unfulfilled by the prior art of an interactive electronic game having an interactive play section of large area in its play configuration, which may be reconfigured to occupy a relatively small space having a much smaller area than that of the interactive play section when in its play configuration. The present invention provides such an electronic game.